Cocktail Concoctions

At the helm of the popular BarChef on Toronto’s Queen Street West is Frankie Solarik, an innovator on the Canadian bar scene and inventor of cocktails. He began as a bartender at 17 years old at a cigar bar in Ontario. He eventually went on to creating drink menus for venues and restaurants such as Kultura. He then opened up BarChef in 2008 with Brent VanderVeen, and has been reawakening the tastebuds of patrons since.

Using fresh ingredients, simple syrups and bitters made in-house, and incorporating molecular mixology and employing culinary techniques, BarChef is not a typical bar. Here, it’s not about hastily mixing a drink and sending it to the customer; it’s about the process and time that goes into making a delectable and worthwhile cocktail.

Each cocktail has a minimum of two ounces of alcohol in it, while cocktails traditionally have a minimum of half of that. Solarik created the menu, which is updated periodically. He says “every drink is derived from a certain component or experience.” He starts with one ingredient, for example coriander, then thinks of what other flavours and alcohol would work well with it, and from that process he creates a cocktail.

In the two years they’ve been opened, over 1,000 of the Vanilla Hickory Smoked Manhattan cocktails have been sold. Solarik can’t pick just one favourite; he notes the Symphony #5, the Perfect, the Newly Fashioned, the Mad Man, and of course, the Smoked Manhattan as some of his personal favourites.

Recognized internationally, BarChef has been named one of the seven most inventive bars and was also voted one of the Top 100 best bars in the world by Food & Wine Magazine.

Guests can also order food off of the dinner menu. BarChef has alluring appeal and decor and it entices a broad range of patrons. According to Solarik, “people appreciate the ambience, the music and the cocktail program.” •

Photo Courtesy sxc/Simeon